Two different e-mail messages are making the rounds in Jefferson Parish from residents -- one from those who say they were afraid for their safety during encounters with suspicious perfume peddlers and another warning of free key rings with built-in global positioning systems.

JPSO

Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand said the perfume sellers are legitimate employees of a Metairie company called Big Schott Management.

But he said the stories about GPS key rings that track victims for would-be burglars or carjackers are just that -- stories.

"We believe it to be an urban legend or myth," Normand said during a Thursday afternoon new conference called to alleviate growing concerns stirred up by the e-mail messages.

The earliest e-mail messages about the perfume peddlers began circulating around the first week in October from a woman named Stephanie Kitchen who wrote that she was panicked when approached by another woman at a Metairie service station at Clearview Parkway and West Napoleon Avenue.

Kitchen wrote that she felt threatened by the woman, who didn't leave until she said she was going to press a 911 button on her key chain.

Paulette Lizano, of Metairie, had read the e-mail message, and it was fresh in her mind on Oct. 19 when she was approached by a man who offered her perfume samples while she pumped gasoline at a service station at Veterans Memorial Boulevard and Sena Drive. The man wouldn't take no for an answer.

"He was just very persistent, and he got closer and closer every time he would ask," Lizano said when reached by telephone on Thursday. "It's just a gut feeling. I was very unsettled."

Lizano said she decided to send out her own e-mail warning to friends and residents after she tried to report the incident and was "blown off" by deputies.

But once the e-mail messages began circulating throughout the community, they caught the attention of the Sheriff's Office, according to Normand. Investigators determined the perfume peddlers were hired by Big Schott Management, a door-to-door cosmetics sales company located at 4617 Sanford St. that has a string of complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau for selling practices, advertising and product issues.

"There were no incidents of physical harm as a result of these solicitations," Normand said. "We have visited with the company and expressed our displeasure because they didn't have the appropriate licenses."

Specifically, the company needs to have an occupational license, register with the sales tax office and make sure solicitors are also licensed, the sheriff said. Telephone calls to Big Schott Management were not returned Thursday.

Normand also debunked e-mail warnings about crooks who hand out GPS-enabled key chains, directing residents to Internet-rumor research website snopes.com. That particular urban legend began circulating in August 2008, according to the website, and is false.

While the women who complained about the perfume sellers were genuinely alarmed, Normand said the e-mails created some false fear within the community. He urged residents to check snopes.com or the Sheriff's Office website, jpso.com, should questions about e-mail warnings arise.

"But if there's something that occurs that really strikes you as odd or otherwise, please call the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office," he said.